Last week, the Los Angeles Times reported that YouTube and the Universal Music Group were discussing a joint venture that would “do for music videos what Hulu has done for the online distribution of television shows.”

The article implies that the Hulu model (a joint venture of News Corp and NBC Universal) makes money through advertising. Now, if you’ve never visited Hulu, it’s a pretty slick site. You can watch any Universal or NBC related title for free. No charges. No software to download. No strings. The catch is, the content comes with paid advertising — lots of it. And YouTube is toying with this model because they “have yet to figure out a way to make money on its amazing traffic and videos.” The article goes on to say that all parties are “highly motivated.”

What I find mildly entertaining about this whole discussion is that should YouTube adopt this model, haven’t these guys (and all the me-too sites that are sure to follow) moved closer to the way free television has always worked? It sounds like Universal Music Group will only allow content that it supports or develops. Then wouldn’t Universal sell ad space based on traffic, stickiness and eyeballs? Feeling a little deja vu? Think about it — isn’t Hulu just an on-demand television network? Heck, the only things missing are cheeky local news anchors, Svenghoulie and those high school all-access channels no one watches.

I’m not sure if I want my web to emulate my TV. ThereÂ’s something too predicable and linear about the way I interact with my TV that I wouldn’t want to see in my computer. But maybe I’m in the minority here. Maybe the average Joe wants order and familiarity. Maybe as the Internet becomes more of an acceptable mass medium, the suits that control the purse strings will push for sameness and predictability. Just like they did with radio. And we saw how well THAT worked.

Regardless of where we’re headed, this ain’t innovation — it’s survival. Whaddayathink?

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